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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29443635">your name's riddle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mamichigo/pseuds/Mamichigo'>Mamichigo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Centuries Later, Fluff, M/M, Music, Post-Breath of the Wild, Reincarnation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:48:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,116</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29443635</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mamichigo/pseuds/Mamichigo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He comes without warning: a bard that doesn't speak much, and every day he perches himself on the highest point of Rito Village. There's something hauntingly familiar about it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Link/Revali (Legend of Zelda)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>115</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Revalink Valentine's Exchange 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>your name's riddle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/aotelier/gifts">aotelier</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Ge when I saw you had a reincarnation au, I basically blanked out. I was just like. Omg. This is perfect..... I've had this reincarnation au in mind for MONTHS. I'm gonna ramble about in the end notes, for now I hope you enjoy!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Lately, a lone bard had claimed a spot at the highest peak of Rito Village. The young man looked delicate, and clearly had no set of wings, and yet, Revali always spotted him atop the rock formation with an instrument to his mouth and fluttering pieces of paper held down by the weight of his own leg.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Despite being a rito, Revali never found himself to be passionate for music. He knew how to sing, as any good rito would, but his knowledge went no further than that. Even their own rito bard evoked no particular feelings in Revali, even if he admired the man's work.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This hylian, however, caught him simply by a sense of curiosity. Revali was a warrior, and he knew how the elements were cruel to anyone, but especially to a soft-hearted hylian like him. Hylians were made of more fragile stuff. Revali couldn't fathom how someone like that managed to make it all the way up there without mortally injuring himself. So, in the third week of the bard's stay in the Village, Revali flew up to him in a whirlwind that made the bard's hair stand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know bards like to go wherever the music is, but up here, really?" Revali raised his eyebrows. "I'm not saving you from certain death if you foolishly fall to your death, you know."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bard had long since stopped his melody when it got interrupted by the ruckus. He lowered his strange instrument to his lap and tilted his head minutely. He opened his mouth, and though Revali saw his lips form the shape of words, he couldn't hear what he said. Revali frowned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bard smiled and patted the ground next to him. Revali looked between the bard and the rock, and decided it couldn't do any harm. He sat down carefully, back straight. He watched the bard from the corner of his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bard leaned in and cupped a hand around his mouth. Revali startled when hot breath touched his feathers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nice to meet you," a raspy voice whispered. It was so quiet it was almost carried away by the wind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's quite a voice you have there," Revali commented, if only a little skeptical. "Strange for a bard."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bard's eyes crinkled when he held up his instrument, gesturing to it with grandiosity.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you saying that strange mouth instrument of yours does the talking for you?" Revali asked, to an enthusiastic nod. Revali snorted. "I have my doubts. It seems to be doing a poor job so far."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To Revali's indignation, the bard stuck out his tongue at him, but before Revali could return it in full, the bard had already turned away. He fumbled with papers until he found a particular one that made him hold it up in triumph. He indelicately shoved it at Revali.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It seemed like a half-finished sheet for one of his melodies. Revali could tell by the notes that it was still a work in progress. He roamed his eyes over the paper to find what was so interesting about it, until the name at the top caught his attention.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"'Link?'"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bard pointed to himself, and Revali stared blankly for several seconds. The bard waited, eyes patient and expression open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh! Is it your name?" The bard--Link--once again nodded his assent. "I suppose your music actually does the talking for you, in unexpected ways." Revali paused, until something clicked. "You're writing a song about yourself?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link nodded. Paused. Shook his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, which one is it?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link opened his mouth and this time Revali instinctively lowered his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's about discovery."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Discovery of what?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of myself." Link took the music sheet and pointed at the notes written down. Just as Revali had noticed before, they were messy. They clashed. They were unfinished. "I don't know who I am."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Revali laughed without meaning to. "What do you mean by that? You're you, what's there to know." He narrowed his eyes. "Unless… You don't have amnesia or something of the sort, do you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link waved his hands and head. Point taken.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I think I wasn't originally meant for this."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link looked up at him, and there was something in the hardness of his stare that made something stir inside Revali. A memory trying to shake loose. It was gone as soon as it came, but it left Revali bereft in consequence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sounds like a troublesome dilemma," Revali said, voice forced into playfulness. He couldn't touch on why he suddenly felt so distraught. "Are all bards supposed to be having an identity crisis?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link shrugged and pointed at himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Just you then." Revali sighed and eyed Link's instrument. "Why would you stay at Rito Village for so long then? It'd be better to explore different places, see different things. You might just find yourself along the way."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I need to be here," Link said. "Something here is calling to me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Calling?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll show you," this Revali didn't hear, but he read the shape of it on Link's lips. He wondered how he picked up the ability to do so this fast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link held his instrument, and now Revali noticed that his hands weren't quite as delicate as Revali thought they would be. They were scarred, calloused. His middle finger was bent awkwardly from what he could only assume was a bone fracture that healed out of place. That explained how Link got up here, but it raised several more questions about the man himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was brought back from his reverie when the first notes were played. The melody was slow, calm, then increasing in intensity. Revali ached. Somewhere, everywhere. His chest, his eyes, his bones. He felt it somewhere deep. He longed for something lost. He did not know why. The ocarina--and when did he learn the name of that instrument?--was masterfully played until the music's completion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link opened his eyes slowly, and before he could even fully lower his ocarina, Revali had already grabbed him by the shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do I know you from somewhere?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link smiled, soft, </span>
  <em>
    <span>soft</span>
  </em>
  <span>, sweet drops of liquid Revali had never drunk before. His eyes were here, but it was also somewhere a hundred years ago. Revali kept asking himself how he knew these things as his heart beat wildly in his throat. It begged to roar itself back to life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I feel like I know you too," Link said. Small, quiet words. Link shifted, took Revali's wings. Palm to feathers, too small. He wasn't even able to hold Revali by the hand. Finally, Revali's insides settled just right. "See? We fit."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Revali breathed harshly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Who are you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't know either."</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you're curious about the setting, basically after Link and Zelda defeat Ganon, they get reincarnated as basically the same person centuries later so they get to experience just being a Common Person. This is Hylia's way of preventing they fall to the same thing as Ganon (the hatred for for the cycle which led him to becoming pure malice), by allowing their souls a chance to move on. This also brings the people they knew back so any hang-ups their souls carry can be resolved and they'll be ready to fully reincarnate the next time they're needed. There's also a huge plot point about what that means for Ganon and what happened to him, but that's a story for another time. Who knows, maybe one day I'll actually write the multi-chaptered fic for this au</p><p>Find me on <a href="https://twitter.com/ma_michigo">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://mamichigo.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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